January 28, 2013

By Matthew Triponey
Of The Spirit
BROOKVILLE â€” The deputy warden of the Jefferson County Jail, Brian Sneeringer, has decided to move on to "bigger and better things" and thus has submitted his resignation effective Feb. 8, Warden Tom Elbel announced at the most recent meeting of the Jefferson County Jail Inspection/Intermediate Punishment Board.

Paul Corbin, chairman of the county commission, said that the county would begin advertising the open position in the local media.

January 28, 2013

Bo Dinger (left) and Alexis Young (right) were named as The Spirit's Fall Sports Outstanding Player for the boys and girls, respectively, and both were stars on their respective cross country teams.

Young, a four-year Lady Chucks runner, helped her team capture the District IX championship for the first time in three years. After being last fall's Outstanding Player runner-up, the senior received 33.4 percent of the vote total â€” or 402 of the 1,203 female ballots cast.

January 28, 2013

PUNXSUTAWNEY â€” As the old saying goes, "You're not in Texas anymore" â€” a saying that certainly applies to Greg Smith, the new senior pastor at the First Church of God in Punxsutawney who, until recently, was a resident of the Houston, Texas, area.

"I grew up in the small town of Albion â€” not the one in Punxsy, the one in western Pennsylvania â€” and it is small like here and is about 25 miles southwest of Erie," Smith said, adding that he lived there until he was 21 years of age.

"So, becoming the senior pastor at the First Church of God in Punxsy is like coming home again," he said.

January 28, 2013

The driver of this Chevrolet Silverado, George Hamilton of Shelocta, was not injured in this one-vehicle rollover accident that occurred at 5:36 a.m. Sunday at the intersection of Route 119 and Route 210 in North Mahoning Township.

According to Punxsutawney-based Pennsylvania State Police, Hamilton said he was traveling east on Route 210 and saw some deer, which caused him to drive through the stop sign at the intersection of Route 210 and Route 119 and roll his vehicle onto its side on the north side berm of Route 119.

January 28, 2013

(The Spirit is pleased to share with our readers vignettes of life in the 19th century as originally reported in past issues of the newspapers. These reproduced stories include their original headlines and spelling.)